Get to know Mississippi State football's 2024 opponents: Texas Longhorns

To get ready for the return of Mississippi State football, we're taking the time to get to know each team on the 2024 schedule. To close out September, the Bulldogs will travel to Austin to take-on SEC newcomer and 2023 playoff team, the Texas Longhorns.

We've already done a full preview of Texas in our SEC Snapshots series, but here are three things to know about the Longhorns in 2024...

Quinn Ewers is still the guy for Texas at QB, but Arch Manning might make an impact!

QB Quinn Ewers chose to return rather than leave for the NFL, and it was probably the right decision as he looks to continue developing. He will once again be one of the nation's best QBs and should have another great year in Austin. But the QB everyone wants to know about could play a role too...

Arch Manning dominates the conversation about the Longhorns. It's both understandable and unfair, but it's impossible to avoid. And now as Ewers' backup, he suddenly could have a big role. Ewers has had injury problems the last two years, and with the expanded playoff format, it's possible Steve Sarkisian looks to limit his snaps as much as possible to keep him fresh.

We may end up getting a solid dose of Manning this fall.

The Texas run game will be dominant.

It seems crazy to say this after the losses of Bijan Robinson and Jonathan Brooks in consecutive years, but the Longhorns should have one of the nation's best run games in 2024. CJ Baxter and Jaydon Blue are a dangerous RB tandem who shined late last season.

And they get to play behind a great OL led by 1st Team All-Conference LT Kelvin Banks. Texas will run a lot of teams over this season.

Even with some massive losses, the Texas Front 7 will remain elite.

Last season Texas had the best duo of interior DL in the country between Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat. That combo destroyed opposing OLs and made life easy on the rest of the Longhorn defense. Murphy and Sweat are both gone, but don't expect the Front 7 to fall off.

Pass-rushers Barryn Sorrell, Ethan Burke, and UTSA-transfer Trey Moore will be a handful of offenses. Arizona-transfer Bill Norton and Alfred Collins should be a force on the interior. And LBs David Gbenda and Anthony Hill return after big 2023 seasons.

Game-wreckers still remain up front in Austin.